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Miri (episode)
Series: TOS Episode: 1x11 Original Airdate: 1966-10-27 Production Number: 12 Year: 2266 Stardate: 2713.5 Story by: Adrian Spies Directed by: Vincent McEveety The Enterprise discovers an Earth-like planet that was devastated by a horrific degenerative disease and is now populated entirely by impossibly old children. Summary Responding to an Earth-type distress signal many light years from Earth, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) discovers a planet that is an exact copy of the Earth. It has the same mass, circumference, density, and atmosphere. Even the topology is identical. Beaming down, the landing party of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Rand and two security men discover architecture like that of Earth, circa 1960. But with debris in the streets and evidence that decay has been ongoing for at least several centuries, and that the distress signal is automated. Then McCoy is attacked by a diseased man -- a man horribly disfigured, insane, and violent. Before Kirk can get any useful information from this man, he dies. Noises draw the landing party to one of the abandoned buildings, where they discover the terrified girl, Miri. Meanwhile, Spock and the two security guards search the ruins outside. They hear children, and are pelted with debris, but they never actually see anyone; the feral children, who call themselves onlies, know the area too well, and are too canny. Talking to Miri, Kirk learns how the grups became ill and insane, burning and killing, and the onlies had to hide from them until they all died. McCoy realizes that a plague struck this world, and killed most of its people. And then, on Kirk's hand, Miri finds a blemish. Kirk has the disease that killed the grups. Soon enough, everyone has it except Spock. McCoy begins to work, bringing a biocomputer and electron microscope from the ship. Spock discovers research dating back three hundred years; there was a project, with the goal of prolonging life. But a miscalculation annihilated the adults, leaving only the children -- children who contract a fatal disease when they enter puberty. Within a week, all of the human members of the landing party will succumb; sooner than that, they will go mad. Then, the communicators and Janice Rand disappear. By accident, McCoy discoveres the organism responsible, and succeeds in isolating a substance that might be the vaccine. But without the ship's computer, it's impossible to be certain -- or to know the dosage. Kirk persuades Miri to help him, by revealing the secret the landing party had kept: that she, and all the children, would get the disease. And that the youngest would starve long before that. She takes him to Jahn, the next oldest child, who leads the onlies. After a scuffle, Kirk makes the children realize they're doing what the grups did -- hurting others. Returning with the communicators, Kirk finds Spock and a security man at McCoy's side. The doctor, in a move of desperation, has injected himself with the vaccine. He is unconscious, perhaps dying ... and then the blemishes begin to fade. The vaccine is a success. The Enterprise departs, leaving a medical team in charge of the children, who will soon receive the care they need. Quotes :Kirk: Is this the vaccine? :McCoy: That's what the computers will tell us... :Spock: Without them... it could be a beaker full of death... Background Information * The planet side sets are the sets from The Andy Griffith Show, redressed. * The hook -- a planet that is not only Earth-like, but an exact copy of Earth, never really figures into the plot of the episode. This has led to speculation, mostly in the form of fan fiction, about how this planet came to be. * John Arndt (Fields) was a regular extra, he also played unnamed crewmen in TOS:"Dagger of the Mind" and TOS:"Space Seed" and Sturgeon in "The Man Trap." When Arndt appeared in TOS:"Balance of Terror," his character was named Fields. * Jim Goodwin's character, Farrell, had been referred to as a "communications man" by Harry Mudd, and Magda had learned how to contact the miners on Rigel XII from him. After being a navigator in Mudd's Women and The Enemy Within, Farrell is finally at the communications section in this episode, his final appearance in the series. * This is the first appearance of McCoy's portable biocomp, which he will use later in The Omega Glory. Yeoman Rand uses a piece of equipment that is probably the portable electron microscope requested from the ship. This can be seen in later episodes, as well-- in fact, it strongly resembles the device Scotty uses when he is controlling the view screen playback in The Menagerie, Part I. * The alley in which Spock and the guards have debris dropped on them will be seen again in The City on the Edge of Forever, when Kirk and Spock are accosted by the policeman. * DeForest Kelley displays a feeling of sad reverence as he gently handles the abandoned tricycle on the planet. * Melanie and Lisabeth Shatner are the daughters of William Shatner and Gloria Rand. * Steven McEveety is the son of director Vincent McEveety. * Scott Whitney is Grace Lee Whitney's son. * Darlene and Dawn Roddenberry are the daughters of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. * Phil Morris, son of "Mission:Impossible" star Greg Morris, would later make an appearance in a "Star Trek" movie. * Keith Taylor replaced Rusty Stevens on "Leave it to Beaver" as Beaver's new plump friend, Harry. * James Doohan (Scotty), George Takei (Sulu) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) do not appear in this episode. Nitpicks * As the landing party closes in on the unknown creature in the closet (which turns out to be Miri), Kirk stops to ask Spock how old the piano is! This is a very curious and irrelevant question for such a moment. * In the scene where the children are throwing rocks (which are actually made of paper mache) at the landing party, a "rock" the size of a softball bounces off the back of one of the security guards' heads, and he keeps running. Links and References Main Cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * Grace Lee Whitney as Rand Guest Stars * Kim Darby as Miri * Michael J. Pollard as Jahn * Jim Goodwin as John Farrell * David L. Ross as Galloway (Security Guard #1) * John Arndt as Fields (Security Guard #2) * Irene Sale as Louise * John Megna as (Chubby) Little Boy * Keith Taylor as Jahn's Friend * Ed McCready as Boy Creature * Kellie Flanagan as Blonde Girl * Steven McEveety as Redheaded Boy * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited) Extras * Melanie Shatner as Brunette Girl (in Black Lace Dress) * Lisabeth Shatner as Little Girl (in Red-Striped Dress) * Scott Whitney as Small Boy * Jon Dweck as Boy Who Stole Phasers #1 * Scott Dweck as Boy Who Stole Phasers #2 * Phil Morris as Boy in Army helmet * Darlene Roddenberry as Dirty-Face Girl (in Flowered Dress) * Dawn Roddenberry as Little Blonde Girl * Mike Miles as McCoy's stunt double References Bartlett Stable; Biggs' Toys; biocomputer; distress signal; foolie; grup; Life Prolongation Project; microscope; Miri's planet; nitrogen; onlies; oxygen; Palmerton Cafe; Rusk Hotel; vaccine; virus. Category:TOS episodes de:Miri, ein Kleinling nl:Miri (aflevering)